Work environments associated with certain industries, such as the mining and construction industries, are susceptible to undesirable dust conditions. For example, worksites associated with mining, excavation, construction, landfills, and material stockpiles may be particularly susceptible to dust due to the nature of the materials composing the worksite surface. For example, worksites surfaces of coal, shale, stone, etc. erode easily, and thus may tend to produce significant amounts of dust. Moreover, typical work operations performed at these sites only exacerbate the dust conditions. At a mine site, for example, cutting, digging, and scraping operations may break up the worksite surface, generating dust. In addition, heavy machinery, such as haul trucks, dozers, loaders, excavators, etc., traveling on such sites may disturb settled dust, thereby increasing the dust level of the air.
Undue dust conditions may reduce the efficiency a worksite. For example, dust may impair visibility, interfere with work operations on the site, and require increased equipment maintenance and cleaning. In addition, undue due dust conditions may compromise the comfort, health, and safety of worksite personnel.
Various devices and methods have been used in the past to control work site dust conditions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,954,719 to Carter, Jr. et al. (the '719 patent) discloses a method and system for treating worksite dust conditions. Specifically, the '719 patent discloses a system including one or more dust monitors positioned at different locations around the worksite. The dust monitors monitor the dust levels at their respective locations on the worksite, and generate a dust control signal indicative of the monitored dust level. A controller associated with the system receives the signals from the dust monitors. When the controller determines that the dust level at the location of a particular dust monitor increases above a threshold, the controller sends a signal to dispatch a mobile dust control machine to the location of that dust monitor to treat the dust condition (e.g., spray water and/or dust suppressant).
While the dust control system of the '719 patent may help control dust levels on the worksite, the system may be inefficient in certain ways. For example, the system may not monitor or control the amount of water sprayed on a particular location of the worksite. Accordingly, the system may treat each dust location in the same manner, regardless of the dust level, environmental factors, and other considerations. Thus, dust control resources may be used less efficiently than one would like.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more disadvantages set forth above and/or other problems in the art.